AB-InBev buys Platform brewery

USA | Despite the ambiguous name, Platform is not an e-commerce site but a brewery business. The firm from Ohio was fully acquired by AB-InBev on 7 August 2019. It will join AB-InBev’s US unit Brewers Collective as its newest craft partner.

Platform, which was founded in Ohio City in 2014 by Paul Benner and Justin Carson, will be the 13th craft brewer in the Brewers Collective. Again, financial terms were not disclosed. The founders will stay involved in day-to-day operations, at least for the foreseeable future.

Platform is a logical buy for AB-InBev, which began its foray into craft beer with the purchase of Chicago’s brewery Goose Island in 2011. Prior to Platform, AB-InBev bought North Carolina's Wicked Weed brewery in May 2017.

Ohio’s craft beer market is expanding, underlined not least by BrewDog’s decision to build its first US brewery in Columbus, which opened in August 2018. Although the majority of the 300 craft breweries (there are more than 60 in planning) must be considered small, Ohio ranked fourth in the country in terms of total craft beer production (1.6 million hl in 2018).

The Brewers Association (BA) named Platform one of the country's fastest-growing breweries of 2017. It produced 32,000 hl beer in 2018 and is on track for 47,000 hl this year, it was reported.

The brewery operates on a business model, which relies on just two, all year round brands that account for half of its sales, says goodbeerhunting.com. However, it also does a variety of seasonals, ranging from traditional styles to sours, ciders and hard seltzers.

Besides, it runs several neighbourhood taprooms – a strategy that has been key to Platform's growth. These include the flagship operation in Cleveland and a taproom in Columbus. Apart from these, there is a venue in Cincinnati, dubbed LOCOBA (which stands for “local coffee barrels”), that serves as a coffeehouse during the day and a taproom in the evening.

Meanwhile, Platform is preparing to open a sour beer facility, called Phunkenship, in Cleveland this October, plus a 10 barrel brewery and taproom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at a later date.

With AB-InBev being the sole owner, Platform will no longer qualify as an independent craft brewer under the BA’s definition.

Platform said that one of the positives from the sale to AB-InBev is that the firm will now be able to provide benefits to its staff it could not offer before, including health benefits and parental leave.

Although AB-InBev has a brewery in Columbus, there is currently no mandate to scale up production beyond what’s already in store or to distribute across the country, Mr Benner said.

In the past three years alone, AB-InBev has reportedly invested more than USD 130 million in its craft breweries to hire new employees, open new facilities and expand capacity.